Speaker Rendon’s Remarks on Minimum Wage Signing

Speaker Rendon: New Minimum Wage Law Will Change Lives of Thousands of California Families

LOS ANGELES—Governor Jerry Brown today signed Senate Bill 3, legislation that will increase the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. Below are Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s (D-Paramount) remarks as prepared for delivery:

I want to thank the Governor, Senator de León, and labor for coming together and finding a solution that, at its heart, shows California at its best – smart, compassionate and bold.

Today we’re not just witnessing the signing of a bill, we’re witnessing the honoring of our social contract—specifically that, if you get a job and work hard, you will be able to support your family.

For too long that just hasn’t been the reality.

Many Californians who work full time can’t put a roof over their families’ heads or put meals on their table.

This bill changes that for tens of thousands of Californians.

Just south and east from where we stand, eight of the nine cities I represent have more than 20% of their residents living in poverty. Many of those residents are hard-working people, stuck in a minimum wage job.

Right now only 32% of Californians live in counties where the minimum wage would put a family of three at or above the Supplemental Poverty Measure. In 2022, when the increase we are enacting fully kicks in, 86% of Californians will.

That’s one good indicator of how widespread the benefit of this minimum wage increase is.

This increase is NOT a social program. We are talking about work. We are talking about those who do on a daily basis that which our society asks them to do – to work.

It’s a strong statement that in California we believe in keeping our word and honoring our social contract – if you work full time, your family shouldn’t have to live in poverty.